The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 148

Chapter 148. The Prelude (1)

“Prince Edwin, what’s got you so deep in thought?”

Feeling countless eyes on him, Edwin looked up.

The Third Unit knights who’d been training with him were staring at the young prince.

As though they’d long since noticed the worry clouding his beautiful face.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“Aw, it sure doesn’t look like nothing.”

Before he knew it, the Third Unit knights sidled over and gathered around him.

“Tell us, Your Highness. You’re not still bothered about slipping back there, are you?”

“Come on, surely it isn’t that. Your Highness, I can solve anything except romantic troubles. Just say the word.”

“Is someone still bullying you?”

“What? Who dares bully our Prince Edwin? Who is it? I’ll cut them in two!”

Was it because they’d spent so much time enduring grueling training together?

The Third Unit knights had come to consider Edwin one of their own.

Of course, Catherine sharing delicious snacks with them every day also helped.

“Hmm.”

Edwin seemed to consider their words for a moment, then slowly spoke.

“Well, I was worried about what I’d do if I had to fight an incredibly powerful monster unlike anything I’ve faced before.”

“What?”

All the knights’ eyes widened at the young prince’s words.

It was probably the last thing they expected to hear from him.

“Oh, Your Highness.”

Then one of the knights spoke cheerfully.

The red-haired knight with healthy, bronze skin was named Finet.

His specialty was swift swordsmanship that suited his lean build, and he was considered one of the Third Unit’s finest knights.

“Monsters are all more or less the same. Even if it’s some incredibly powerful monster you’ve never faced before, we can beat it with enough men.”

Edwin smiled awkwardly at Finet’s words.

He couldn’t bring himself to mention mutant monsters, so he spoke vaguely. As a result, none of them seemed to take it seriously.

“And even if monsters like that do attack!”

Finet draped an arm over Edwin’s shoulders and thumped his own chest with his free hand.

“I’ll protect you, Your Highness, so don’t worry!”

“That’s right! You’ve got us! Have faith in us!”

They couldn’t have been more reassuring.

Grateful even just to hear them say it, Edwin smiled brightly.

“Yes, thank you!”

The young prince’s beautiful smile brightened the knights’ faces, too.

Yet they also regarded him with concern. Despite training with them every day, the prince was still so fair and soft.

“He must’ve been shaken by seeing monsters during his stay with us.”

“He’s still young. He hasn’t even had his coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Even grown men piss themselves in front of monsters. Imagine how His Highness must feel.”

The knights still had no idea.

No idea that Prince Edwin had encountered a mutant monster in a plague-stricken village, of all places.

“Finet’s right. Monsters don’t know how to cooperate, so they can’t beat humans.”

This time, the largest knight spoke with his arms folded. Thick veins bulged on his massive forearms.

His name was Bata, and he was the only knight in the Third Unit who wielded a greatsword.

He was so strong that rumor had it he could match even their commander, Jerome Crowner, in sheer strength.

“What’s gotten into you, Bata? You’re actually agreeing with me?”

“Because for once, the fellow with dust rattling around in his skull instead of a brain said something right.”

“What was that, you bastard?”

Apparently displeased with Bata’s answer, Finet immediately bared his teeth.

Edwin stepped between them with both hands raised.

“Calm down, both of you.”

“But Prince Edwin! That bastard Bata insulted me first!”

“I didn’t insult you.”

“You, X! Is saying my skull’s full of dust supposed to be a compliment?”

How strange. Why were they suddenly fighting?

Weren’t they on the same side, agreeing with each other?

“Haha…”

Edwin gave a helpless smile as the two finally came to blows.

The other knights cheered and jeered at the unexpected entertainment.

“If you’ve got time to fool around, you must still have energy left. Haven’t you had enough training?”

“E-eek! Vice Commander!”

The knights blanched at the sudden appearance of Vice Commander Philip.

Philip cast a disdainful look over them, then issued a curt command.

“Everyone, fall in.”

They were knights, all right. Their discipline, at least, was impeccable.

At Philip’s command, the knights swiftly formed three orderly columns.

Edwin also scrambled into place at the very end.

“An official dispatch has arrived from the Emperor’s palace.”

His tone was as flat and matter-of-fact as ever. But unlike usual, his face carried an air of grim resolve.

“Exactly three months from now, His Imperial Majesty, our great Emperor, intends to launch a large-scale campaign to exterminate the monsters appearing throughout the central continent, including the Mondragon Mountains.”

The knights began murmuring at the vice commander’s words.

“We’ve been exterminating monsters all along. Why has His Majesty suddenly issued an imperial decree?”

“He said a large-scale campaign. That means…”

The knights each chimed in.

They only quieted when Philip fell silent, his expression solemn.

“This campaign will be conducted in alliance with the Kingdom of Adamant. In other words, it will be a joint monster extermination campaign.”

A joint monster extermination campaign with the Kingdom of Adamant.

Edwin felt his heart pound at those words.

Along with the mutant monster he encountered in Luxen, he pictured the young king who once gave him a sword. Was this fear, or excitement?

Without realizing it, the young prince clutched his chest.

“His Majesty the Emperor and all immediate members of the imperial family will also participate in this joint operation. We must protect them with our lives.”

Groans arose here and there. They’d be busy enough killing monsters, but now they’d have to escort royalty and nobles as well.

“Even two lives wouldn’t be enough.”

“Well, the noble-born knights will handle the escorts. As if they’d entrust guard duty to commoners like us.”

“True. They think low birth means low skill.”

Knights from noble families might’ve longed to catch an imperial’s eye and rise to a higher position by any means.

But these men were all commoners, and the reality was that on a hectic battlefield, they’d be lucky to even glimpse an imperial’s face.

‘Rachel was right after all.’

Meanwhile, Edwin bit his lip, lost in thought.

‘Father is joining the campaign, too. Then this really is….’

It seemed certain that this campaign was meant to determine which prince was worthy of becoming Crown Prince.

Edwin’s expression grew steadily darker.

‘Can I do well?’

When I struggled against just one mutant monster?

Of course, back then he wasn’t as fit as he was now, nor had he learned swordsmanship.

But even now, could he defeat the mutant monster he encountered in Luxen?

‘I don’t know.’

Edwin gazed at the monster’s cold corpse in the distance.

‘That one seems so weak compared to a mutant monster.’

The monsters the knights captured for training were far weaker than mutant monsters.

‘But I’d still struggle to fight one alone.’

All he could manage was a killing blow to a vital spot while the other knights assisted him.

Edwin clenched his fists.

‘Rachel’s right. I need to get stronger.’

Much stronger than he was now.

Just as Edwin renewed his resolve.

“But we’re conducting a joint operation with that Kingdom of Adamant?”

“Damn it, is this going to be all right?”

The moment Sir Philip left, the knights began talking loudly. They reacted to the name Adamant with considerable skepticism.

“I know Adamant’s knights are experts at exterminating monsters, but…”

“I hear their knights really hate outsiders.”

“They were killing each other until recently. Of course they do.”

It was inevitable for the knights of a kingdom founded through civil war.

Only a few years ago, their own countrymen were stabbing each other in the back.

They’d only recently begun to trust their allies. They could hardly be expected to welcome outsiders with open arms.

“Ugh, how are we supposed to fight alongside such frightening bastards?”

“I don’t know about the others, but I hear their king is terrifying.”

The King of Adamant, Kayden Ram.

As the knights talked about the Knight King, said to be the strongest on the continent, their gazes naturally turned to Edwin.

“Come to think of it, didn’t he stay at Prince Edwin’s palace during the Founding Festival?”

“Oh? Then the royal knights must’ve stayed there, too.”

The knights bombarded Edwin with questions, their eyes alight with curiosity.

“What sort of person is the King of Adamant?”

“How skilled are his knights? Are they as impressive as the rumors say?”

“How does he compare to our commander? If the King of Adamant fought our commander, who do you think would win, Your Highness?”

Edwin never expected to become the sudden center of attention.

Flustered, he waved his hands. “W-well? I’m not really sure who would win…”

The knights looked disappointed by the prince’s lukewarm response.

“Oh, we’re only guessing! I bet our commander would win!”

“I’d bet on our commander, too!”

“Me too! Knight King or whatever they call him, he’s only about twenty, isn’t he? He can’t match our commander’s experience!”

Edwin blinked at their words.

As an imperial prince, he ought to bet on Duke Crowner, of course.

But why?

‘I think he’d win.’

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt Kayden would win if the two fought.

Quite unconsciously.